Abstract

The degradation of propoxycarbazone-sodium, an active component of commercial herbicide, in aqueous solution with ozone, UV photolysis and advanced oxidation processes: O3/UV, O3/UV/H2O2, H2O2/UV, and the Fenton process was studied. All these methods of degradation proved feasible. The kinetics of propoxycarbazone-sodium degradation in water followed the pseudo-first order equation for all studied processes except the Fenton treatment. The application of schemes with ozone demonstrated low pseudo-first order rate constants within the range of 10−4 s−1. Addition of UV radiation to the processes improved the removal of propoxycarbazone-sodium and increased the pseudo-first order rate constants to 10−3 s−1. The Fenton process was the most efficient and resulted in 5 and 60 s of half-life and 90% conversion time of propoxycarbazone-sodium, respectively, at 14 mM H2O2 concentration. UV treatment and the Fenton process may be recommended for practical application in decontamination of water or wastewater.